Amir Khan: I've got Danny Garcia rattled

Amir Khan: I've got Danny Garcia rattled

Amir Khan and opponent Danny Garcia play mind games as they get set to face off

what I said was the truth, because I am going in there to knock him out and to hurt him

Amir Khan

Khan, 25, launched into the American and his father ­Angel in a battle of words at their head-to-head press ­conference.

Angel – who is also Garcia’s trainer – verbally abused the Bolton fighter. And Garcia himself tried to intimidate Khan as they went nose-to-nose.

But the Brit stared out his American opponent and ­reduced Angel to a ranting fool by promising to knock out his son when they clash in the early hours of tomorrow.

“I was nice and chilled, but this time I thought I’d get to him, because at the first press conference he was saying so many crazy things,” said Khan.

“Basically, what I said was the truth, because I am going in there to knock him out and to hurt him.

“I’m a nice guy outside the ring, but inside is ­another matter.

“When I was talking, his dad started going crazy. You can see they are all on edge.”

Khan has spent seven months waiting to get back to the States to make up for his controversial loss to Lamont Peterson last year.

Victory over Garcia could pave the way for a clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr in December.

Mayweather, who last month topped the Forbes list as the world’s highest-paid sportsman, is due to be released from prison next month after being ­sentenced to 90 days for ­assaulting his former ­partner.

Leonard Ellerbe, the head of Mayweather’s ­promotional company, watched Khan go through his paces in a public ­workout this week.

Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy, Khan’s promoters, admits that a December clash could happen if Mayweather wants to box this year.

Schaefer said: “We are looking at ­December, if Floyd decides that he wants to fight this year.

“And Amir would not be in action before December, because he will need a break, so it could line up well. Mayweather is ­something I’ll be ­discussing with Amir and his family.

“We will discuss it with them and decide if it’s ­better to have a fight first at 147 (welterweight) or go ­direct for Mayweather.

“It’s a fight that both ­fighters seem to want and it’s up to me to try and put it together.”

Khan says he will almost certainly step up from ­light-welterweight to ­welterweight if he beats Garcia.

But he is not sure if a fight against the undisputed No.1 pound-for-pound boxer will happen so quickly.

“I don’t know if the ­Mayweather fight will be this year, but you never know,” said Khan.

“I’m going to get this fight out of the way and then think about it.”

Khan was this week ­reinstated as WBA ­champion, a title he lost to Peterson before the ­American failed a drug test.

He can add Garcia’s WBC title to that tonight, as well as the prestigious Ring magazine belt.

Garcia, though, is ­unbeaten and, at 24, is the first younger opponent Khan has faced since before the 2004 ­Olympics in ­Athens.

The American’s nickname is ‘Swift’, but Khan’s ­trainer Freddie Roach has declared him slow after spending weeks staring at videos of the WBC champion.

Garcia believes that Khan will not be able to cope with his power and said: ­“Timing beats speed any day – and a good jab.

“He needs more than speed to beat me.”

Yet Khan will look to make quick work of Garcia, who won the WBC title by beating aging Mexican legend Erik ­Morales in March.

“This is his ­biggest fight,” said Khan. “He can believe that he faced the best Erik ­Morales if he wants and that he beat a legend.

“But Erik Morales is not the same as he was 10 years ago.”

There is no doubt that Khan has boxed in a higher class than Garcia. The American won’t lack desire, but expect Khan to win in about the sixth round.